Description

The Do 217 E-2 is a rank III German bomber
with a battle rating of 4.7 (AB/RB) and 4.0 (SB). It was introduced in Update 1.29.

The Dornier Do 217 E-2 is a versatile twin-engined heavy bomber, capable of undertaking level bombing or dive bombing missions, or even strafing or attacking other aircraft with its fixed forward-firing 20 mm cannon.

General info

Flight performance

Describe how the aircraft behaves in the air. Speed, manoeuvrability, acceleration and allowable loads - these are the most important characteristics of the vehicle.

Usage in battles

One of the best bombers in the game, the Do 217 E-2 is capable of reaching over 700 km/h in a dive, making it extremely difficult to intercept when dive bombing from altitude. It has a good climb rate as well, allowing it to reach safer altitudes more easily than other lumbering heavy bombers. Unfortunately, the Do 217 has a rather poor roll rate, which makes it difficult to manoeuvre, especially when fully loaded.

It is capable of carrying four of the excellent German 1,000 kg bombs, which are more powerful than the equivalent bombs of other nations. While other nations may be able to carry more bombs, they usually carry a larger number of smaller bombs, which is less efficient against bases and airfields. As an added bonus, the Do 217 E-2 is also armed with a fixed forward-firing MG 151/20 cannon. This allows it to surprise fighters attempting to head-on the bomber or even to act as a makeshift bomber interceptor since it spawns at the same altitude as other bombers in modes with air spawns.

The defensive armament is the only true letdown of the Do 217. The dorsal MG 131 turret is well-placed to cover the top of the bomber from most attacks, although it is not as effective as the American .50 cal. There are a lot of blind spots not covered by the defensive machine guns, most of which are the relatively ineffective 7.92 mm MG 15 anyway.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements

Mixer

Pitch

Radiator

Supercharger

Turbocharger

Oil

Water

Type

Not controllable

ControllableNot auto controlled

Not controllableNot auto controlled

ControllableNot auto controlled

Combined

Not controllable2 gears

Not controllable

Modules

Tier

Flight performance

Survivability

Weaponry

I

Fuselage repair

Radiator

Turret 7 mm

Turret 13 mm

II

Compressor

Airframe

New 7 mm MGs (turret)

ITC PVC I

III

Wings repair

Engine

Offensive 20 mm

New 13 mm MGs (turret)

ITC PVC II

IV

Engine injection

Cover

New 20 mm cannons

ETC 2000/XII

Pros and cons

Pros:

High speed, especially in a dive

Frame can withstand high speeds

Excellent bomb load (4 x 1,000 kg)

Horizontal and dive bombing sights

20 mm offensive cannon

Tail-dragging landing gear (good for high-speed landings)

Cons:

Low manoeuvrability (especially roll rate at high speeds)

Very weak stock bombload

Poor defensive armament

History

The Do 217 was designed to meet the requirement of the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (Air Ministry) for a heavy night bomber or a float-equipped anti-shipping dive bomber. Dornier experimented with the Do 17 with an enlarged fuselage, more powerful engine and almost twice the bomb load of the original Do 17. Dive brakes were fitted under the wings with Daimler-Benz DB601B engines. This design proved underpowered and manoeuvrable. Instability was a problem, this was soon fixed by installing Handley Page Leading edge slats. The final version used Jumo 211A engines instead of the DB601 and the proposed DB603. Different tail sections were tested out on this version of the Do 217. The final design entered service as the Do 217 E-2. With BMW 801A 14 cylinder radial air-cooled engines. This version of the Do 217 did not have tail mounted dive-brakes. The engine unit was interchangeable with Jumo 211 engines as part of the "Power Egg" concept. The Do 217 normally carries a crew of four: bomb-aimer/observer/forward gunner, dorsal gunner/radio operator, ventral gunner/flight engineer, and a pilot. The dive brake in the original version was removed.

In-game description

Dornier Do 217 E-2 medium twin-engine bomber

An all-metal cantilever monoplane with a twin-fin tail and a retractable landing gear system with a tail wheel. The bomber was created in the design bureau of the Dornier Flugzeugwerke company under the direction of Claude Dornier.

In 1937, the German Ministry of Aviation (Reichsluftfahrtministerium) put forward an initiative to create a new, improved variant of the Do 17Z bomber. The new machine would have an increased bomb capacity and a larger fuel supply and would be able to drop bombs when diving.

The aircraft was at first developed as an upgrade of the Do 17Z design, but such novel ideas were introduced during the redesign that the result was a fundamentally new design with practically nothing in common with its predecessor. The Do 217 V1 prototype was test-flown in August 1938. Full-scale production of the Do 217 E-1, the first production version, was launched in late 1940.

The power unit of the Do 217 E-2 aircraft consisted of two BMW 801 ML fourteen-cylinder, radial air-cooled engines with a takeoff power of 1,580 hp.

In comparison with the Do 17Z, the Do 217 E-2's defensive armament was significantly improved. The planes were equipped with an upper DL 131 electric turret containing a 13 mm Rheinmetall-Borsig MG 131 belt-fed machine gun with 500 rounds. The turret had 360-degree horizontal rotation, with its vertical guidance angle ranging from 0 to 85 degrees.

In addition to the DL 131 turret, the aircraft's defensive armament included one 15 mm (or 20 mm) Mauser MG 151/15 cannon with 250 rounds in a nose-mounted fixed turret (designed for firing at surface targets) and one 7.92 mm Rheinmetall-Borsig MG 15 machine gun (with 750 rounds) in a nose-mounted mobile turret. A large-calibre 13 mm Rheinmetall-Borsig MG 131 machine gun was installed in a lower lens turret, and each of the two cockpit side blisters had one 7.92 mm Rheinmetall-Borsig MG 15 machine gun.

The Do 217 E-2 could be fitted with an R23 field modification kit, consisting of two fixed twin 7.92 mm Mauser MG 81Z machine guns, with 350 rounds each, in the tail section of the fuselage. The pilot fired from them using a RF2C periscope and a PV1B sight, but the fire from this turret had more of a psychological than a real effect.

The aircraft could carry up to 4,000 kg of bombs, with 2,517 kg suspended in the internal bomb bay. The standard bomb capacity included four 500 kg or eight 250 kg bombs. Other combat load variations were also possible; for example, two LMA aerial non-contact sea mines or one LTF5b torpedo.

A combined total of 185 Do 217 E-2s were built.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example: